Memories of Barton Peveril School in the Twenties

Although the house which gave its name to the school is usually referred to as being in Bishopstoke, in fact it was situated in the tithing of Barton. It was the custom of railway companies to name stations after the nearest village which, in the case of Eastleigh (Eastley) was Bishopstoke, and the whole of the area around the station, mostly farmland, tended to be known as Bishopstoke. Barton Peveril had started as a Pupil Teacher Centre in the LSWR Railway Institute in November, 1908, and, on account of ever increasing numbers of pupils, in 1918, the Hampshire County Council decided to purchase from the Chamberlayne family Barton House, a farmhouse which stood on an island formed by a loop of the River Itchen and the mill-stream which powered Barton Mill. Perhaps “farmhouse” is a misnomer because it was a large and elegant house with an impressive porch with columns and an entrance hall from which opened various rooms. In the garden a wooden annexe was built of four rooms to accommodate the pupils who numbered about 200. We entered at age 11 and worked our way through five forms, leaving at age 16 with Junior Oxford School Certificate, but with the option of staying on in the Sixth form to take Matric.